Diablo 3 Gamers Petition for Offline Gameplay Patch
There's a petition demanding that Blizzard patch Diablo 3 so that gamers can play offline.
We actually saw this coming long before Diablo 3 arrived and proved that an online requirement to play can have a nasty, negative effect. Fans lashed out at Blizzard when the company first revealed the requirement, and now they're demanding that the studio release a patch allowing for offline play in the single-player campaign.
The petition was created by Nick Defina of Toronto, Canada and points to the game's Metacritic listing which currently shows a critic review score of 89 and a user score of 4.1. According to the site's statistics, 1,230 player scores are positive whereas 1,959 are negative -- 176 are listed as "mixed."
"[Fans] want to play anytime and anywhere without having the worry of an internet connection," the petition states. "Some fans can't afford a great internet connection."
Additional reasons of the petition include the $60 price tag which should warrant customers the ability to play the game however they want, and the need to create two Diablo 3 accounts: one for offline play and one for online.
As of this writing, the petition has achieved 199 signatures out of the 25,000 goal, including my own. The goal is expected to be achieved in no time once word of the petition begins to saturate the news channels.
"I just feel that Blizzard should be made aware of their mistakes," Defina told Tom's on Thursday. "I believe that Online DRM is constant pain for a lot of reasons. I think with the amount of resources that Blizzard posses that they are able to cater to both the online and the offline community alike. They can easily separate the Offline Community with a Gold Only Auction House and separate character built for online with the real money auction house. After waiting 12 years, and 6.5 million people currently playing, I think that's a good indication of longevity."
"After personally spending $100 for the Collectors Edition to support their efforts for making a game I love and admired as a child, I was just hoping to play the game how I wanted to," he added.
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In a related report, the Korea Fair Trade Commission on Tuesday said it launched an investigation into the Seoul office of Blizzard Entertainment to see if the company violated South Korea’s electronic commerce law.
The investigation stems from consumer complaints similar to what's said here in the States: connection issues, stability and more. Many angry customers simply want their money back, but Blizzard won't offer refunds when a product has been activated. However South Korea's relevant law guarantees a refund within seven days of purchase if problems with the product are not caused by the end-user.
Kevin Parrish has over a decade of experience as a writer, editor, and product tester. His work focused on computer hardware, networking equipment, smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles, and other internet-connected devices. His work has appeared in Tom's Hardware, Tom's Guide, Maximum PC, Digital Trends, Android Authority, How-To Geek, Lifewire, and others.
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Not sure how far this will go as its got to be more than a "patch" involved as a lot of the game processing is done server-side now and the "patch" would be a re-write of the game code to move the processing over to the client-side.Reply
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v3nom777 Honestly, it doesn't really bother me that I can't play offline. After WoW, I'm used to the servers being down, maintenance, and not being able to play without an internet connection.Reply
And really, I would have 0 incentive to play Diablo III, after completing nightmare. if not for my friends and family keeping it fun for me. The story isn't all that great, but that's where multiplayer competition can keep it fun and interesting.
And I'm probably going to get thumbs downed, but I like it the way it is, and I believe that having single player only takes away from the game. -
Unolocogringo I will probably buy it once the always online is removed.Reply
Tried the beta and was able to connect to the servers once during the weekend.
What good is it if you can not connect to the servers, or two years from now they decide they are not making enough money off of the game and shut down the servers.
You can no longer play a game you purchased.
I still have a lot of old games that I occasionally load up and play. But if they shut down the servers this is not possible.
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livebriand And of course, the people who pirate don't have to deal with this crap.Reply
Say, where is the petition you speak of? -
Energy96 They will never cave to this. The whole design point of the game is to get people to use the real money AH. Once it is live it will be the only place to get the really good items. Who would sell a great item for gold when they can get cold hard cash instead.Reply
They have already gotten $60+ out of pretty much everyone that is going to play the game. They have absolutely nothing to lose if people quit and everything to gain by real money AH transaction profits. It's simple really. -
Trialsking Energy96They have already gotten $60+ out of pretty much everyone that is going to play the game. They have absolutely nothing to lose if people quit and everything to gain by real money AH transaction profits. It's simple really.Reply
Exactly, you guys keep paying ridiculous prices for games, so they will do whatever they want. Its the same thing with the CoD/Halo series; they can release steaming piles of crap and people keep dropping $60. When will people learn...
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DaFees Really, a petition for a patch to play D3 offline? I'd rather have a much more needed petition to play Starcraft II offline AND across LAN. I mean seriously Starcraft is the bigger of games even if the numbers suggest otherwise. Having to be online to play D3 isn't as bad as having to be online to play Starcraft II and trust me could you play Starcraft II offline AND across LAN it would('ve) easily sell(sold) more than D3.Reply